8:32 p.m.

Former Democratic state Rep. Jill Tokuda has won the Hawaii’s U.S. House District 2 seat vacated by Kai Kahele, soundly defeating her opponents Republican Joe Akana and Libertarian Michelle Rose Tippens tonight.

Incumbents U.S. Sen Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Ed Case were re-elected after also easily fending off their opponents to make a clean sweep for the Democrats in the three Hawaii congressional races. Schatz beat several opponents led by Republican state Sen. Bob McDermott, while Case defeated Republican Conrad Kress, according to the first printout of results tonight.

8:24 p.m.

Josh Green will be Hawaii’s next governor and Sylvia Luke will become lieutenant governor after the Democrats trounced their Republican opponents former Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona and political newcomer Seaula Tupa’i, Jr. in today’s General Election.

Green and Luke held a solid 67% to 33% margin with more than 300,000 votes tallied, according to the first printout of results tonight.

7:15 p.m.

Election officials have closed lines at voting centers but voters who were on line at 7 p.m. can still cast their ballot. Drop boxes also were closed at 7 p.m.

The first printout of results is expected soon after the last person on line votes, perhaps about 8 p.m., state election officials say.

6:45 p.m.

Voters at Honolulu Hale gave various reasons late today why they did not mail in their ballots, but lines were much shorter than in the 2020 presidential election when it snaked beyond the municipal building and ended near Punchbowl Street.

Robin Cadirao, 50, of Kailua said, “I don’t believe in that (mail-in ballots). I believe in election day, not election month.” He said he shredded his mail-in ballot when he received it in the mail, and voted in person, which took an hour and a half.

His wife, Heidi Cadirao, 51, voted for the first time in Hawaii. The only other time she voted was in California in 1992 for Bill Clinton.

The reason, she said is “because of what I see happening, if I don’t vote, I don’t get to complain. I made sure I voted for the Republican for governor, against my family. My family are all Democrats.”

A Hawaii Loa Ridge couple, who lost their ballots, stood in one line for an hour and had to stand in a second line, but decided to leave because they were late for a dinner engagement.

Fred Mateo, 61, of Salt Lake, planned to stand in line to vote, but because of the long lines, he dropped off his mail-in ballot in the box.

“I wasn’t planning on mailing it in because I don’t trust the system,” he said.

Voter Dixie Johnson, 26, of Kaneohe, said,“I spilled water on my ballot. It was ruined.”

She said the lines were longer than in 2020.

Jonathan Kahalenaau, 37, of Kapahulu, said he didn’t receive his ballot in the mail, so he waited about a half hour in line.

“I think they should have one or two convenient locations in Honolulu,” he said.

6:25 p.m.

Honolulu Election Administrator Rex Quidilla said that by about 5:15 p.m. today Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale had already surpassed the total number of voters who showed up on Election Day 2020.

He said the wait time this evening was still about an hour at Honolulu Hale, but the line was moving “much better” than in 2020.

“People have been very patient,” Quidilla said.

5:45 p.m.

WAILUKU >> A steady stream of voters throughout the day cast ballots at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku, the lone voter service center on Maui.

Jason Rosenbloom of Kahului said he opted for early voting but accompanied his 19-year-old son Gabriel as he cast his ballot for first time — although it was a cliff-hanger whether the younger Rosenbloom would be able to participate in his first election. He got his official ID only Monday, enabling him to register to vote at the service center before marking his ballot.

“It was great — very easy, very simple,” Gabriel Rosenbloom said. “We were in line for, like, 45 minutes to register and vote.”

Aside from the fact he wouldn’t have been able to vote early without proper ID, he said he wanted to vote in-person “to have that experience because I haven’t done it before. But in the future I’ll probably do mail-in because it’s more convenient.”

Rosenbloom’s dad said he was “super proud” of his son for registering to vote and voting. “My wife and I did early voting so I didn’t have to worry about standing in line, but he wanted to vote himself and we took the time to go down to get his driver’s license yesterday and we got a freshly minted ID.”

In line at the Wailuku voter center with her husband and three young daughters was state House District 11 Republican candidate Shekinah Cantere of Kihei.

“We like doing it old school; it’s fun,” she said.

Cantere and husband Justin said they also like to make it a family affair, bringing daughters Sensea, 7, Seadena, 2, and Seanahi, 9 months, along to witness democracy in action.

Maui County officials said they have made efforts to smoothen the island’s voting process, which saw long lines and delays during the Aug. 13 primary .

James Krueger, deputy county clerk, said there were lines from the start of opening time at 7 a.m.

“We do think that things are going better than they did in the primary,” said Krueger. “We brought on a lot more staff, so that’s been a huge help. We set up more locations at the center where people can go into the booths and vote. We really upped our capacity.”

Voters are still required to fill out a verification form, he said, but the county sped up the process by accepting driver’s licenses, along with a simple name and signature and a check on a box confirming they were present.

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Voters turned up in force at Honolulu Hale this morning, either to drop off their ballots, or vote in person at booths inside.

There were short lines at the Hale when polls opened at 7 a.m., which grew longer by mid-morning and stretched down to the sidewalk by about 11 a.m. There was also a steady stream of drivers using the drive-thru to drop off ballots at the drop box in front of Honolulu, which by noon, wound around the block to Beretania Street.

Statewide, there were no reports of issues at voter service centers by early afternoon, according to Nedielyn Bueno, spokesperson for the state Office of Elections.

Honolulu City Clerk Glenn Takahashi estimated by about 11:30 a.m., roughly 1,800 voters had been serviced at both the Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale voting service centers, with an even split between the two sites.

“We’re moving about as fast as we can,” he said, adding that the pace is roughly the same at both sites.

The mid-morning numbers surpassed those for all of Monday, he said, when about 1,000 voters were processed.

“That gives you an idea of how many people got energized at the last moment,” he said. “I find it encouraging and I’m glad people are using their holiday, if they have one, to vote.”

Voting by mail has been available for the last 20 days, he noted, and voting service centers have been open for 10 days, so the turnout is mostly what he called “the natural human tendency to wait until the last minute.”

By Monday, more than 213,000 mail ballot envelopes had been received, and more than 4,000 had voted in person, according to the Honolulu Elections Division.

Kathryn Healy of Honolulu stood on the lawn outside with her service dog, Royce, to vote.

Healy was waiting for her adult children to vote, and then planning to go in to a voting booth herself, but she did not want to stand in line with Royce. She waited for more than half an hour for them to finish, but said she was able to vote quickly because of her disability.

“I wanted to go back to voting the way I always have, traditional,” she said. “That’s how I learned to vote. My whole life it’s been in person.”

Healy said she wished that more voter service centers were open at the local school in her neighborhood, for instance, the way it used to be, instead of having a crowd converge in one area. She said cost of living was a big concern for her this year.

Keane Ishii of Honolulu rode over on a Biki bike to drop off his ballot in the yellow drop box.

He said his signed ballot had been in his desk for awhile but that he had been busy and today was his day off. He has voted in every election since he has been able to, he said, and this year is really important.

“I think if more people voted, then the government would be more representative of what people want,” he said.

Kenneth Tea of Honolulu said it took 30 to 40 minutes to get through the line and voting process this morning, but that he voted in person because of a recent address change.

“I’m happy I did it,” he said.

Voters have until 7 p.m. today to drop of their ballots at a drop box, or vote in person at a voter service center. All voters standing in line by 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.

“They’ll all get serviced,” said Takahashi of voters waiting in line.

A full list of ballot drop box locations and voter service centers is available at www.honolulu.gov/elections.

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Star-Advertiser reporters Christie Wilson, Leila Fujimori and Nina Wu contributed to this report.

Go to https://staradvertiser.com/election for updates, resources and live results from today’s General Election.